Decades of research have been undertaken to develop hubs for a bicycle, multiple rider tandems and other human powered vehicles (HPV). A vast number of sizes, shapes, configurations and materials have been proposed, some of which are in current use.
Although many current hub designs are serviceable, current hub designs are usually limited to use in a narrow range of wheel configurations. For example, one hub design is used where a rim brake is used, another where a disk brake is used, another where the hub is for a rear wheel employing a drive sprocket, and so on. This requires a bicycle or HPV manufacturer to have a large inventory of different hubs.
Most hubs in current use rely exclusively upon a design using a spoke having a 90 degree bend at one end, to be attached to the retaining flange of the hub, and threaded at the other, to be attached to the wheel rim. These spokes are individually laced through holes in the hub retaining flange and attached by means of threaded nipples to the wheel rim.
The spoke hole size and pattern is essentially the same on all prior art designs. The differences are for the most part found in number of spokes, materials, gauge of wire used and rim nipple design. Nipples vary because they are used to adapt and secure the spoke ends in the many types of rims available in the marketplace.
Straight spokes, enlarged at one end and being threaded at the other, have been in use on motorcycles for some time. The straight spokes used on motorcycles are individually laced into holes in the hub. This is cumbersome and requires skilled labor.
Because the hub used with these straight spokes is larger than a typical bicycle hub, straight spokes have only recently been used on bicycles or other HPV's. Also, the straight spokes still need to be individually laced, eliminating any significant advantage to the use of straight spokes over the customarily used 90 degree bent spokes, except for strength.
Known wheel hubs frequently include a quick release feature. These known quick release wheel hubs employ a hollow axle shaft through which passes a solid shaft, typically called a skewer, with an adjustable nut on one end and an eccentrically mounted lever or the other. When the eccentrically mounted lever is acuated it acts as a clamping device to retain the axle in the drop-out slot in which the wheel resides in the front fork or rear frame. Although such known quick release hubs are satisfactory for many purposes, the use of the separate skewer necessitates the use of a hollow axle, increases manufacturing cost and in some cases cannot provide sufficient clamping power to stablilize the struts of a front suspension fork on a bicycle.